Toto Wolff and Christian Horner were two of the biggest sporting enemies in the F1 paddock. Over their 12 years together, few rivalries matched the tension between them.
Things came to a head during the 2021 season when Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fought through an incident-filled title race that was not settled until the final lap in Abu Dhabi. The relationship between Wolff and Horner never seemed to recover after that.
Indeed, things only got worse over the last year and a half of Horners time at Red Bull, with Wolff openly pursuing Verstappen even though he was still under contract.
Red Bull have since moved on by bringing in Laurent Mekies, but Horner is expected to reappear somewhere else in Formula 1 soon.
During Wolffs time with Mercedes, they collected 15 championship trophies one more than Red Bull managed during Horners stint.
Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images According to Autosport Web, rival team bosses are responding to the changes at Red Bull. Outside of Racing Bulls, who lost Mekies, the shift is being felt most by Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari the other members of the big four.
Wolff was reportedly the first to reach out, inviting Mekies over for a chat after qualifying at Spa. The new Red Bull boss also met with Ferraris Fred Vasseur during the same weekend.
Like Vasseur, Wolff stressed there was no lingering tension from his side and suggested it was time to move past any issues that had built up during Horners time in charge. It gave Mekies a chance to outline his vision and approach for Red Bull moving forward.
The top teams are looking to get on the same page when it comes to major topics around the paddock, whether they are commercial or sporting issues. That is why these early meetings matter so much.
McLarens Zak Brown expressed that relations with Red Bull are expected to improve and become more stable under Mekies leadership. The two also held a private meeting at the Hungaroring.
In his first few weeks at Red Bull, Mekies has been putting in 14-hour days at the Milton Keynes factory. Several people inside the team have said he will bring an engineers approach to the role.
On the other hand, Horner came from a racing background and was hands-on across every part of the organisation. Mekies will have a narrower focus, concentrating more on car performance.
Even with that shift in focus, some issues are hard to avoid. Helmut Markos presence has been known to cause challenges for team principals before, and that may not change under Mekies.
Marko is known for speaking his mind publicly, often leaving others to manage the fallout. At 82 years old, hes unlikely to change now, so it will be up to Mekies to handle those situations as they come.
